The White House Office of American Innovation is one of the most important initiatives to come out of the West Wing. This new office and its hefty mission of modernizing government technology and creating efficiencies will without a doubt spur economic growth and boost entrepreneurship.
But with other countries aggressively competing against the United States to be the global leader in technology and innovation, Jared Kushner and the OAI have a unique opportunity to facilitate government-spurred innovation and keep the U.S. ahead of its competitors. Here’s a roadmap.
First, ensure that the budget encourages innovation by making new investments in research and development.
As I wrote about in a previous piece, the public sector continues to spark innovation for one simple reason – it can marshal the resources the private sector cannot. Unfortunately, the Trump administration inherited a spending problem, but making cuts to innovation as we’ve seen in the 2018 budget undermines OAI’s mission.
It’s important to cut wasteful spending, but not when that spending will encourage entrepreneurship and contribute to job creation. You can’t decrease budgets when some of the companies relying on those investments are trying to innovate and modernize government technology.
Secondly, schedule a “listening tour” and meet with a diverse group of new and emerging entrepreneurs and innovative startups.
Meeting with the founders and CEOs of companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Google can be effective, but at some point in their careers, they were small and unknown as well. Meet with veteran entrepreneurs, minority entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, and visit entrepreneurial hubs and digital incubators outside of Silicon Valley in cities such as Chicago, Boston, or Dallas. You’ll walk away inspired.
In Silicon Valley alone, more than $31 billion in venture capital has gone to support local tech startups, but less than 2 percent of venture capital has gone toward minority-owned startups, female-owned startups, and veteran-owned startups. Imagine the economic growth and job creation once the playing field is leveled, and venture capital dollars and government dollars are being spent to boost innovative startups regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location.
Third, encourage and promote hackathons, and even host a few at the White House. Canada, for example, has begun to host government-sponsored hackathons, and the country is better off for it. It has also contributed to Canada emerging as the new global leader in regulatory technology (RegTech) – a point of great annoyance to us here in U.S. RegTech circles.
Fourth, encourage policy actions that promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
This is a longer-term strategy, but a necessary one. Incentives for entrepreneurs and innovative startups, reducing regulatory burdens, and reforming the tax code for small businesses would be a great start.
President Trump campaigned successfully on making America great again, and the opportunity before Kushner will do just that. The OAI has an incredible opportunity to spark innovation throughout the country like we’ve never seen before – and while identifying a new batch of entrepreneurs and innovative startups, we’ll modernize government technology in the process.
Every presidential administration is looking for their legacy, and this just could be it.
Mark Vargas (@MarkAVargas) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is co-founder and president of tech startup Licentiam. From 2007-2010, he served as a civilian within the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
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